My thoughts on the Emerald Princess

[Esprit]

Not sure if ypu saw my message on Cruise Connections but we have booked your cruise for next year too.

 

We'll stick with Titan Airways as there are 4 of us and hope the Gatwick flights fare better next year. As we had a good roam around Venice last week I'll be happy for an evening stroll next year if the plane arrives late again.

 

We'll be seeing Tina, Bob and Laura soon and no doubt we'll be in touch with you again.

 

Cheers

Peter

[bobstime]

Thank you for sharing your experience on the Emerald. We are leaving Wednesday to spend a few days in Rome before our sailing on Sunday. I was afraid the ship would be so crowded but it has such a wonderful itinerary given us the opportunity to see so many ports in 12 twelve days. It will be exhausing but I am really looking forward to getting started. Your vivid description of the ship made me feel like I was on board already.

 

Virginia

[I.T.Geek]

Laura....

First of all, with all the others you have received, a Hearty Thank You for the review. We are on the Emerald in just under 2 weeks now and I can't wait! :-) I hope to do a review as well.

My question is based on perhaps a misunderstanding. Your reference to GRAND CLASS ships and the Emerald leave me thinking the Emerald is in a ~different~ class. Is it? I thought the Emerald was in Grand Class...just...bigger. ??

Again, thanks!

[Marie-Claude]

Hi Laura!

 

It's great to hear from you (remember we were on the British Isles with you and your family last year!!)

 

We'll be on the Emerald for New Years this year - I really hope the staff remains as friendly and warm. This is the first time for my Mom and I away from the family during the Holidays... she's a bit anxious about that, but by the sounds of it, we'll soon forget about it!!

 

Thanks for this thorough opinion on the ship!

Happy return!!

MC

[JohnL1935]

This was a very timely and great thread. We, too, are leaving in 2 days and it is nice to read a positive and informative review of the ship. Last Oct. we were on the Carnival Liberty on a 12 day Med cruise so it will be easy to compare it to the Emerald. Princess is our favorite cruise line so I don't think we will be disappointed. Thank you everyone for your comments. I'm in one of those bad cabins on the Caribe deck.

 

John L.

[Casshew]

Hi Laura! sounds like everything was very good, glad you enjoyed your cruise on Emerald :) I'll have to try that foot massage on my next cruise, they always hurt!

[ourlol]

I.T. Geek,

 

I think perhaps my comments were misleading in that I was referring to the fact I have only previously sailed on what were the 'original' Grand Class vessels e.g. Grand, Golden and Star Princess.

 

Whilst the Emerald Princess probably belongs in the same Grand Class category by virtue of the fact it roughly adheres to the same blueprint, there are nevertheless differences in the design and size. I was merely trying to make some distinction between them.

 

So yes, the Emerald is Grand Class... just bigger.

 

I look forward to reading your own review.

 

MC and Casshew,

 

As soon as I get a minute I will pop over to the visit the infamous Golden Idols thread and say hello properly.

 

John L,

 

Oh no! Not one of THOSE cabins. Have a great trip.

 

Laura

[crows nest club]

Hi Peter,

 

Yes I did see your message on Cruise Connections - I did in fact do a quick reply, albeit a couple of days afterwards and possibly by this time it had 'fallen down the packing order'. Glad to have you and your family on board next year and looking forward to meeting you all.

 

I can well understand that you did not want to incur extra costs for 4 people next year with the outward flight, but with only two of us, we felt that we would not want to arrive in Venice at say 10-30 p.m. with the ship sailing the next morning. At the moment there seems some mix-up with the time that Emerald is sailing out from Venice. The brochure says 8.p.m. - cannot see that it can make Dubrovnik the next day at 8.a.m. if this is the case. When I queried this with Princess they then said that it was sailing at 8.a.m!! but they were trying to clarify this. Cannot believe that someone at Princess Southampton does not know how long it takes to sail from Venice to Dubrovnik!! We have the feeling that Emerald will sail at 1p.m. as last year and also in previous years.

 

When you catch up with Tina, Bob and Laura, send out best wishes, although Tina and I do e-mail each other on a regular basis.

 

Regards

 

 

Daphne (and Arthur)

[suni]

Your review was great! Thank you. I understand you had some 20 yer olds in the group. Were there other yyoung people sailing ? Did the young adults have fun? Any details would be great.

[MichCook]

Thanks so much for your review. We're looking forward to our sailing on the Emerald in February!

[Eddie4Paws]

Enjoyed your review, as we're boarding Emerald Oct. 7 in Venice for repo back to FLL. Can't wait!

Glad you cleared up the Elite/Platinum question, because I was wondering why you didn't take advantage of the free laundry for Elite passengers instead of bringing it all back home.:)

 

SilverCruiser,

After looking at your cruise history, I only have one question for you... will you adopt me?:D

[dorrie9]

Thanks for your review, Laura! I was on the 9/2 cruise and agree with much of your review.

 

My only gripe was that I had decided to "splurge" on a massage before the cruise, and I decided to get mine on the first night. The front desk guy showed me the list of massages (seaweed, ginger, hot stones), and I said, "I just want a plain ol' massage--I don't want anything fancy." He replied that they didn't offer "just" massages and I had to order from the list, and he specifically recommended the seaweed wrap, which was $195 for 75 minutes. He told me the "beneficial effects" would last 5 weeks.

 

I reluctantly agreed, and I remembered I had a 15% off coupon in the room. So, I show up for the massage, and before we start the masseuse gives me a long schpeal about what the seaweed was going to do for me. I kept thinking, "Is this part of the 75 minutes?" Finally we started, and she glopped all of the smelly seaweed onto me. It was cold and made me shiver. I had to stew in the seaweed for 20 minutes while she massaged my head and feet, and then I had to take a shower to get the glop off.

 

After that the real massage started. I think all in all it lasted about 35 minutes. Then, as I'm groggy and sitting up, the masseuse went in to a total sales pitch for herbal baths--she said, "I'll just add the cost to your bill--sign here." The herbal baths were $500!!!! I told her I would have to think about it, but I was REALLY ANNOYED that after the massage, when I just wanted to go back to the room and chill out, I had to listen to a sales presentation.

 

Anyway, with the tip added on, I spent $200 on that seaweed massage, and it was not worth it at all and I never returned to the Lotus Spa after that.

 

On the positive side, we also were on the Caribe deck and had that huge balcony. I think for our next port-heavy cruise, though, that we will just get a window cabin because we just didn't have enough time to enjoy the balcony.